The European Union and the United States announced on Friday that they will include Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the list of individuals sanctioned for the military invasion of Ukraine. Subsequently, the measure was also released by the United Kingdom.
The sanctions were initially released by the European bloc’s head of diplomacy, Josep Borrell. “Important to signal that the only leaders in the world who are sanctioned by the EU are Bashar al-Assad [ditador sÃrio]Alexander Lukashenko [ditador belarusso] and now Putin,” said the Spaniard.
Earlier, asked about possible reactions from Putin and Lavrov, Jean Asselborn, Chancellor of Luxembourg, said that the two “live in a bubble and that they can no longer recognize reality”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov declined to comment on the possibility of direct sanctions against Putin and Lavrov, but the Russian government later treated the measures as a sign of “impotence” by the West. In practice, the package little (or almost nothing) affects the financial lives of the two leaders, since neither of them has assets declared abroad.
In addition to measures against Russian bosses, European Council President Charles Michel said the EU was preparing more economic sanctions. In his opinion, the package approved by the leaders of the 27 countries of the bloc on Thursday (24) is not enough.
The threat came just hours after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky called for tougher measures against Moscow. “The possibilities for sanctions have not yet been exhausted. Pressure on Russia must increase,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter, who said he had sent the message to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
EU leaders approved on Thursday, during an emergency summit in Brussels, sanctions targeting Russia’s energy, finance and transport sectors, as well as restrictions on technology exports and visas.
The bloc countries preferred not to exclude Russian banks from the Swift interbank system for the time being, a step considered to have a devastating effect and with consequences that could be felt even in other European countries.
Financial officials said the bloc is ready to withstand economic impacts that are likely to revolve around rising energy prices. “But the costs of reacting to this invasion, to this violation of international law, are costs that we must bear,” said European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni.
Also on Friday, the UK and the US also announced that they will apply sanctions against Putin and Lavrov. The day before, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had already released an extensive list of companies and individuals that will be sanctioned across the country. The measure is expected to have an impact on the business of the Russian elite, which has been linked to the London capital market for decades.
US President Joe Biden on Friday extended his sanctions package even further to Russian companies, as well as people linked to the Kremlin. According to him, there will also be restrictions involving the Russian government’s transactions in foreign currencies, barriers to Russian access to new technologies and measures against the country’s largest banks.
The Kremlin assessed that Western sanctions imposed on Russia would cause problems for Moscow, but that they are not insurmountable. The country is determined to expand its trade and economic ties with Asian nations.
Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said Russia had already reduced its dependence on foreign imports to protect itself from sanctions.
“The main objective was to ensure complete self-sufficiency and import substitution if necessary,” said Peskov. “To a large extent this objective has been achieved. No doubt there will be problems, but they will not be insurmountable.”
The Economy Ministry said Russia had long faced sanctions and was reassessing its trade ties to combat what it called a threat emanating from the West.
“We understand that the sanctions pressure we have faced since 2014 will intensify,” the Russian ministry said. “The rhetoric from some of our colleagues abroad has been such that we are ready for potential new sanctions for a long time to come.”
Faced with the various measures that the EU announces in retaliation for the Russian attack on Ukraine, Moscow is also preparing retaliation and knows the weaknesses of its targets, said the speaker of the upper house of the Russian Parliament, Valentina Matvienko.
A practical step has already been taken. Russia has banned all UK-bound planes from entering its airspace in response to sanctions imposed by London on Russian airline Aeroflot – which is part of the international SkyTeam alliance, of which the French-Dutch Air France-KLM is part.
According to regulatory agency Rosaviarsia, all planes “owned, leased or operated by an organization linked to, or registered in, the UK” were blocked. The measure includes transit flights through Russian airspace.
On Thursday, Ursula von der Leyen said sanctions against Russia would increase the country’s cost of credit, and that this should be reflected in rising inflation.
She also indicated that the bloc’s sanctions will directly attack the Russian oil sector, in addition to limiting the country’s access to important cutting-edge technologies, such as semiconductors, essential, for example, in the global chip industry.
The head of the European Commission said the sanctions were coordinated with the United States and other allies. In reference to the Russian attacks, she said they are events that mark the beginning of a new era. “Putin is trying to subjugate a friendly European country. He is trying to forcibly redraw the map of Europe.”
